The Banks Of Frank Furness

This encyclopedic book is the first complete monograph of Furness's work. More than 670 projects are presented through 700 photographs and drawings.

A sweeping assessment of the entire career of Frank Furness that features more than one hundred illustrations, George E. Thomas's book argues that modern American architecture, in design and genealogy, is rooted in the industrial culture of Philadelphia and the office of Frank Furness.

Frank Furness' energy, confidence, brashness, vulgarity, and full-throated love of life vibrate in his architecture.

Over the years, their commissions included scores of city and country residences for the elite of both regions as well as major institutional and business buildings such as those at Harvard and Radcliffe, the Cambridge City Hall, and Pittsburgh's Duquesne Club and Carnegie Institute.

In the 18th century, Society Hill was home to wealthy merchants and many members of the federal government. In Old City, artisans and workmen lived and worked in small row houses like those on Elfrerth's Alley. As Philadelphia developed, it abandoned its Colonial center. Almost forgotten by 1900, Society Hill had become home to poor immigrants and its once gracious houses had become run-down tenements, shops, and warehouses. Yet, at the same time, Society Hill remained Philadelphia's banking and insurance center. Beginning in the 1960s, under the direction of city planner Edmund Bacon and the National Park Service, this neglected neighborhood was restored. Society Hill and Old City documents how these two neighborhoods looked in the early 1900s. The book's carefully researched narrative and vintage images tell the story of these historic neighborhoods.